Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-06-22
EXCITEMENT IN LAURENS.

Special dispatches from LaurenS, III tnls
State, to the daily press for the past few
days, convey the intelligence that much
excitement exists in the Cedar Grove Sec
ton of Laurens county, over an appre-
hended conspiracy and probable uprising
of the negroes of the county. A Laurens
dispatch of Friday to the Augusta Chron-
icle says:
Reliable information has just been re-
ceived here from Col. Scafin and from
letters of private citizens in the vicinity,
that the negroes near Cedar Grove, in Lau-
rens county, have organized themselves
under the guise of knights of Labor.
It is said that a man by the name OF
Hover has been there and ~instigated
them to this course, as he has done a
similar thing in Spartanburg county, near
Woodruff, on the Port Royal and Western
Carolina railroad. They holdtwo or three
meetings a week in churches with closed
doors and armed door-keepers, and with
threats of death to those who divulge the
secrets. They have resolved to demand a
dollar a day for their labor. They say the
county belongs to them, and they will Kill
| the old white men and women and make
| the Young women their wives and enslaVe
the white boys.
A cavalry company has been organized
| at Cedar Grove among the white men, with
! DIR. John A. Westmoreland, Captain, and
Abraham Cook, First Lieutenant q. f.
| Henderson, Second Lieutenant and }. Z.
| Cox. Third Lieutenant. These men are
yerv conservative and have organized
themselves for self protection in case there
| should be any outburst of violence from
the negroes.
The Columbia correspondent of the
Charleston Sunday Mews, under date OF
| Saturday says:
The whites in Laurens county are evil
| IDENTIFY alarmed about the possibility of an
| instruction among the negroes, and per-
haps their fears are we'll founded. Cover.
nor Richardson and the adjutant general
have been communicated with. While
| Governor Richardson knows that the alarm
NAV possibly be a false One, he has taken
immediate action, and if it should be as
| certained that there is really danger OF an
| outbreak, the militia of the State will be
ordered to a short summer encampment at
| Laurens. Governor Richardson has placed
himself in position to obtain reliable in
formation from Laurens.
A dispatch of Saturday to the Sunday
Nea1s says:
Hover, who recently caused 80 much
trouble in Georgia and made himself no
torious throughout the country, is said to
have visited Laurens county. Whether
it was Hover or some other like character,
the fact remains that Hover's influence
pervades the colored population. Near
| Cedar Grove, Young's township, the ne
groes have organized themselves into Sc
cret organizations known as knights of
Labor. Each member is sworn to perpet.
ual secrecy, and to mutually sustain and
protect each other. The meetings are all
held with closed doors and armed door
keepers and armed pickets. NotWith-
standing the very great precautions OF Sc
crecy, some of the purposes of the organi,
cation are known. The meetings are held
from two 10 three times each week.
Among other things that are known, are
that the negroes have been made to believe
that this county belongs to them-at least,
they say so-and that they will maintain
these extraordinary claims with their
lives. They think that they will obtain
their rights quickest by DISCRIMINATING
the older whites and enslaving the young
men. The young women they will take
for their wives. The whites in the neigh
borhood are alarmed, but they are deter
luluSu, dS UldVC uiCli w oSaSh
h%earthstones and the women with their
blood, if need be.
Col. J. H. Traynham, of the Governors
staff, under instructions from Columbia,
will proceed at once to the scene OF action
to investigate and report such steps as may
be necessary to protect the country from
violence and bl%oodshed. Capt. L. +. lrby,
of the Laurens Guards, will accompany
Col. ~Traynham.
Hover, above referred to as a Knight of
Labor organizer, is a northern man who
came south a few years ago and married
in this State. Subsequently he settled in
Hickory, N. c., which he claimed as his
home, and where he owns property. AT
ter his severe experience in Georgia, a few
weeks ago, he returned to Hickory, where
he was Immediately arrested for sorne vi
olation of the law in that State. On re-
turning to Hickory he intimated that ne
was going to retire from the knights OF
Labor, and we incline to the opinion that
it is some other person operating upon the
credulity of the Laurens laborers.